Electronic Communications Act
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REPUBLIC OF CROATIA MINISTRY OF THE SEA, TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURE ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS ACT Official Gazette, No. 73/2008 CROATIAN PARLIAMENT Pursuant to Article 88 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia I hereby issue the DECISION PROMULGATING THE ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS ACT I hereby promulgate the Electronic Communications Act passed by the Croatian Parliament at its session on 19 June 2008. Class: 011-01/08-01/67 No: 71-05-03/1-08-2 Zagreb, 24 June 2008 The President of the Republic of Croatia Stjepan Mesić, m.p. ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS ACT I. GENERAL PROVISIONS Contents of the Act Article 1 This Act regulates the field of electronic communications, including the use of electronic communications networks and the provision of electronic communications services, the provision of universal services and the protection of rights of users of services, construction, installation, maintenance and use of electronic communications infrastructure and associated facilities, competition conditions and rights and obligations of participants in the market of electronic communications networks and services, addressing, numbering and management of the radio frequency spectrum, digital broadcasting, data protection and security in electronic communications and the performance of inspection and expert supervision and control in electronic communications, as well as the establishment of a national regulatory authority for electronic communications and postal services and its organisation, scope and competence, including the decision-making procedure and resolution of disputes concerning electronic communications. Definitions Article 2 Within the meaning of this Act, individual terms shall have the following meanings: 1. address: the total of all components of addressing (signs, letters, digits and signals) used to determine the destination of a connection; 2. numbers: series of digits used for addressing in electronic communications networks; 3. provision of electronic communications networks and services: installation, management and making available of electronic communications networks and electronic communications infrastructure and associated facilities and/or provision of electronic communications services; 1 4. assignment of addresses and numbers: the transfer of rights to use numbers and addresses without the transfer of ownership over numbers and addresses; 5. electromagnetic compatibility (EMC): the ability of a device, unit of equipment or system to function satisfactorily in its electromagnetic environment without introducing intolerable electromagnetic disturbances to other equipment or systems in that environment; 6. electronic communications network: transmission systems and, where applicable, switching or routing equipment and other resources which permit the conveyance of signals by wire, by radio, by optical or by other electromagnetic means, including satellite networks, fixed (circuit- and packet-switched, including Internet) and mobile terrestrial networks, electricity cable systems, to the extent that they are used for the purpose of transmitting signals, broadcasting networks, and cable television networks, irrespective of the type of information conveyed; 7. electronic communications infrastructure and associated facilities: the infrastructure and facilities associated with an electronic communications network and/or electronic communications service which enable and/or support the provision of services via that network and/or service. It includes ducts, masts, buildings and other associated facilities and equipment and conditional access systems and electronic programme guides; 8. electronic communications equipment: equipment used for the provision of electronic communications networks and services; 9. electronic communications service: a service normally provided for remuneration which consists wholly or mainly in the conveyance of signals on electronic communications networks, including telecommunications services and transmission services in networks used for broadcasting, but exclude services providing, or exercising editorial control over, content transmitted using electronic communications networks and services. This service does not include information society services which do not consist wholly or mainly in the conveyance of signals on electronic communications networks; 10. electronic mail: any text, voice, sound or image message sent over a public communications network which can be stored in the network or in the recipient’s terminal equipment until it is collected by the recipient; 11. electronic communications: making available of electronic communications networks and/or the provision of electronic communications services; 12. electronic communications line: an underground or surface wire, optical or related line between access points of an electronic communications network with the relevant interface, without the switching function; 13. electronic programme guide: a guide through radio and television programmes on the television screen; 14. European Telephony Numbering Space (ETNS): all numbers starting with access code 3883; 15. infrastructure operator: a legal entity or a natural person using own property and/or property of others for the purpose of construction, maintenance, development and use of the electronic communications network and electronic communications infrastructure and associated facilities or which has been granted the right of way pursuant to this Act, or is obliged to provide access to electronic communications infrastructure and associated facilities on the basis of an analysis of the relevant market conducted pursuant to this Act; 16. unbundled access to local loop: full unbundled access to the local loop enabling an interested third party to use the entire frequency spectrum of a local loop, and shared access to the local loop enabling an interested third party to use a band width above the voice band frequency spectrum of an unbundled local loop; it does not entail a change in ownership of the local loop; 17. public communications network: an electronic communications network used wholly or mainly for the provision of publicly available electronic communications services; 18. public communications service: a publicly available electronic communication service on a market basis; 19. public pay telephone: a telephone device available to the general public, for the use of which the means of payment may include coins credit/debit cards or pre-payment cards, including cards for use with dialling codes; 2 20. public telephone network: an electronic communications network which is used to provide publicly available telephone services. It supports the conveyance of voice communications, voice mail, facsimile, short text messages (SMS), multimedia messages (MMS) and other forms of communication between network termination points; 21. publicly available telephone service: a service available to the public for originating and receiving national and international calls and access to emergency services through a number or numbers in a national or international telephone numbering plan, and in addition may, where relevant, include one or more of the following services: the provision of operator assistance, directory enquiry services, directories, provision of public pay phones, provision of service under special terms, provision of special facilities for customers with disabilities or with special social needs and/or the provision of non-geographic services; 22. Commission: Commission of the European Communities; 23. communication: any information exchanged or conveyed between a finite number of parties by means of a publicly available electronic communications service. This does not include any information conveyed as part of radio and television activities to the public over an electronic communications network, except to for information that can be related to an identifiable subscriber or user receiving the information; 24. user: a legal entity or a natural person using or requesting a publicly available electronic communications service for private or business purposes whereby that person does not have to be a subscriber of this service; 25. end-user: a user not providing public communications networks and services; 26. local loop: the physical circuit connecting the network termination point at the subscriber's premises to the main distribution frame or equivalent facility in the fixed public telephone network; 27. Ministry: the central state administration body competent for electronic communications; 28. Minister: the head of the central state administration body competent for electronic communications; 29. interconnection: a special access between operators of public communications networks establishing physical and logical linking of communications networks used by the same or several different operators in order to allow the users of one operator to communicate with users of the same or of other operators or to access services provided by other operators where services may be provided by interconnected parties or other parties who have access to the network; 30. multiplex: a stream of digital signals containing several radio or television programmes and/or other data simultaneously transferred via one radio frequency channel; 31. unsuccessful call attempt: a communication where a telephone call has been successfully connected but not answered or there has been a network management intervention. 32. non-geographic number: a number from the national Numbering